A Temporal Disaster
by Ooiue
Summary: Prequel to "Return of Ja'Dok". An unexpected journey through a mysterious Temporal Anomaly sends the crew of the U.S.S. Carthage back in time more than 200 years.
1. Chapter 1

_**This story is set in 2408, the year before the Star Trek Online story begins.  
**_

_**This story also serves as the prequel/essential story to "Return of Ja'Dok" and other planned series and/or stories.**_

* * *

_**Stardate 85315.23**_

_**Bajor Sector, 17 Light Years from Deep Space 9...**_

The U.S.S. Carthage, a Discovery Class Federation Science Vessel, headed at Warp 6 towards the strategically positioned Federation Station; Deep Space 9.

The ship had recently undergone a refit of its propulsion systems, systems which were unique to the Carthage. Standard Discovery Class vessels were no less than an updated Intrepid Class design. Being generally sleeker than the Intrepid, the forward saucer section remains largely the same shape, but is generally thinner, and the aft section, which housed the aft Shuttle Bay and the nacelles with their respective pylons, is also generally thinner, but redesigned with less spherical influence on the upper aft section which instead mainly featured a much more edgy design. Finally, the Warp Nacelles were usually a round cylindrical shape, being propped up by the pylons which were already at a higher angle of around thirty degrees and had fin-like props below the secondary hull which were primarily used for protection for the aft section of the secondary hull, mainly due to it being more vulnerable to weapons fire because of the design.

The Carthage, instead of the standard round nacelles, featured the nacelles from an experimental prototype ship that never went into production; the Cochrane Class. The Cochrane was also based off the Intrepid, but its systems and its overall shape were completely unrecognisable in comparison to both its predecessor and the new Discovery. The nacelles were vertically thinner and featured armour plating on it – an adaption of the special armour an alternate timeline Admiral Janeway brought back with her from the future. The nacelle design was completely covered in standard and special armour with the bussard collector(s) only being displayed by a thin slit at the end of the structure.

Captain Alex Ooiue, the Carthage's commanding officer and a 6ft 1in Human Male Starfleet Officer with short brown hair, went over various war-related reports in his ready room. The war with the Klingons, started in early 2406, over two years before, had been powerful pressure imposed on the Federation, mainly due to the Klingons' capability in both Ground and Space combat. Their warriors were formidable and their ships unrivalled with burst firepower. The Federation, however, used ships that consistently took down enemy ships with sweeps of phaser fire, but there were ships, such as the Defiant, and it's other variant designs like the Sao Paulo and the Vigilant classes, were useful for their own burst damage, much like Klingon ships.

The report the Captain was reading detailed hostilities in the Khitomer sector and how the Klingon advances into some systems seemed to be part of a larger plan. In any case, the Captain knew he'd be called into battle on the Klingon front eventually, once the constant raids of the True Way around Deep Space 9 and Cardassian space had settled down of course.

T'Pon, the ship's First Officer, chimed the Captain over the comm. channel, "Bridge to Captain, you'd better get out here, sir," she requested urgently.

"On my way," the Captain responded, closing down his monitor and discarding data padds to the table before heading onto the bridge, which resembled its predecessors layout; the Intrepid.

The bridge was a heavily modified Intrepid Class bridge design, with two large cylindrical panels, flanked behind the left and right of the Captain's chair, less metal fencing between the upper and lower sections of the bridge and generally a bigger design. The rest remained largely the same, with the Captain's Ready Room to the right of the bridge, facing the viewscreen, and the conference room to the left on the opposing side.

The Carthage had dropped out of warp some 17 light years away from their destination, with the immediate attention grabbing issue being a large white and blue distortion in the path of the vessel.

"Report," the Captain ordered.

"There's a temporal distortion dead ahead. The distortion appears to be at least 3km in diameter," responded Lt. Cmdr. Jessica Thompson; Science Officer of the U.S.S. Carthage.

Lieutenant Commander Jessica Thompson, a 6 ft. long haired brunette Human Female, was the Science Officer of the U.S.S. Carthage, third in command, and Alex's fiancé. Their relationship was complicated with Starfleet, and they often found themselves in the line of sight Starfleet regulations, due to a senior officer being involved with someone under his command. She and Alex went to the academy together back in 2396 to 2397 before Alex graduated first. They didn't see each other for another decade, until the day she was assigned to the Carthage as the new Chief Science Officer.

"Where did it come from?"

"Unknown, we were forced to drop out of warp when its unusually strong gravitational field started affecting our warp field," Commander T'Pon answered.

"Bridge to Engineering," the Captain chimed over the comm., "John, is there any way you can reinitialise the warp field successfully despite the anomaly?" he asked, wanting to avoid any sort of temporal distortion of any kind.

"Negative, sir; the gravitational forces generated by the anomaly are too powerful for us to establish a successful warp field. I'm trying alternate scenario's right now, sir, but I'm just not sure if they'll be successful or not to overcome it," the Bolian Engineer replied.

"Keep at it," the Captain stated, "Helm and Science, could we get far enough away on impulse and simply move out of its gravitational range?" he inquired.

"The distortions aren't affecting impulse capability, sir; just warp," Commander Thompson reported.

"Confirmed, I can manoeuvre the ship away from the distortion, but the gravitational field may still affect us from a significant distance away," Helm Officer Tribalt reported.

"Maybe we can find a way to close the portal down," Cmdr. Thompson reported, before her console started blaring bleeps at her, "Captain, gravitational forces within the anomaly are increasing significantly," she urgently stated.

"Sir, we're being pulled in!" Tribalt exclaimed.

"Full reverse!" the Captain shouted, attempting to overcome the shaking on the ship by finding his way to his chair, which he barely managed to accomplish.

"No effect!"

"Brace for impact!"

Within just a few short seconds, the Carthage was pulled into the temporal anomaly.

* * *

_**Unknown Location**_

The ship, damaged from the trip through the anomaly, emerged on the other side at a slight angle. On board, the crew regained and resumed their positions with a little difficulty, often gripping for nearby support from the various pillars and walls for support in getting to their feet.

"Report, what's our location?" the Captain requested, curious as to where, and when, the now closed anomaly had taken them.

"Approximately some 500 light years from where we were, sir; the star charts don't register a lot of the stars locations to the present time but I am able to make out our approximate position taking into account a number of variables, such as stellar drift," Jessica reported.

"Then when are we?"

"Checking..." Jessica halted a moment before swallowing hard at what she was about to say, "Approximately 200 years into the past; the year is 2206."

Staring at the viewscreen in disbelief, the bridge crew attempted to fathom what had just happened.

"Ar..." the Captain made several attempts at starting a sentence, but failed each one of them before finally regaining his composure enough to start a sentence, "Are you sure?" he barely muttered.

"Yes sir; there's no question. We've just been transported over 200 years into the past some 500 light years away from where we were." In that instance, the sensors bleeped wildly once again, signalling to Jessica that an unidentified ship was nearby, something she reported the second she saw it.

"Can you identify it?"

"I can," Tactical Officer Grachob commented, forcing inquisitive looks from half the bridge crew, "It's a Qualon vessel."

"Qualon? Wait, Grachob; are they your extinct enemy you spoke of?" the Captain inquired.

"Indeed they are, if this is 200 years ago and around our space, then it doesn't surprise me that it's one of them."

Helm Officer Lt. Tribalt and Tactical Officer Lt. Cmdr. Grachob were the literal physical giants of the crew. Grachob was an alien known only as a 'Chobe', an 8ft dark blue skinned two-horned beast whose physical body easily more than doubled any standard Human. According to what little information Grachob had told the Federation about his species, they were located some 500 Light Years away from the Federation and the surrounding powers and were all genetically engineered by themselves for a war against their now extinct enemy. Any further information about his species, Grachob simply did not provide which left a question of trust for Starfleet when pondering to accept his application to Starfleet. The sheer strength and military mind of Grachob, and likely the Chobe in general, was the reason he became the Tactical Officer of the Carthage.

The Chobe, or at least Grachob, possessed almost a flat fact with a ridged nose and some ridge-like features around their mouths with a single smooth ridge running down the top of their head towards the centre-point of the their horned which gathered above the eyes. Instead of standard humanoid ears, the Chobe possessed coral-like hearing which doubled the standard hearing range of a normal Human and instead of eye brows; the slit-like blue eyes were surrounded by bone-coloured ridges which formed a pattern around the eyes. Additionally, just above and below to the side of each eye, stretched two thin, long bone structures which made up another mart of their horn structure protecting that extended cranium. Finally, the main feature of the Chobe, the bone-structured horns, extended upwards and back over the large Chobe cranium into extended points which lengthened the side of each tip of both horns.

Tribalt was the half-human half-Chobe Helms Officer of the Carthage. He was, quite literally, half-way between Human and Chobe. He did not possess the Chobe-like facial features, with the exception of the coral-like ears and his dark blue skin, and him looking more human than others, but he did possess the horns of the Chobe to his cranium which, whilst still bigger than normal Humans, was still smaller than those of a standard Chobe. How he ended up like that remains a mystery to everyone, even Tribalt himself.

"They may know about the anomaly, open a channel to the Qualon vessel," the Captain ordered, an order which was immediately carried out.

The viewscreen filled with the golden, heavily ridged bald face of what was apparently a Qualon. Its head appeared bulky and there was no external distinguishable feature like the Chobe, with the only exception being the heavy ridges in its skin. The rest of the face appeared normal, including humanoid ears, but the golden face and the heavy ridges threw off any kind of standard humanoid look.

"You are trespassing in Qualon space, leave immediately, or your vessel will be seized by the Qualon Confederacy," the Qualon Captain demanded in a low toned voice.

"This is Captain Alex Ooiue of the Federation starship U.S.S. Carthage. If you have observed us coming through the anomaly, you know full well we aren't supposed to be here. Did you open the portal, or are we looking in the wrong place?" Captain Ooiue bluntly asked, not wanting to waste time in getting to the point.

"It does not matter; you are trespassing in Qualon space, and we have given you a warning. Under Qualon jurisdiction, we have authorization to seize your vessel and everyone aboard. All of your technology now belongs to us," the Qualon Captain announced before closing the channel.

"Shields up; red alert. Grachob, you know the Qualon ships' weaknesses, disable the vessel as best you can, but I don't want them destroyed. We'll likely need them to reopen the anomaly so we can return to our time."

"Aye," Grachob acknowledged.

The Qualon vessel had a bulky main hull that rounded off at the front and angular at the back with two bulky nacelle pylons stretching half way across the hull before the nacelle was attached on the other side. Additionally, the ship had a third pylon, similar to the other two, leading below the hull to a smaller hull section which housed a large deflector array and a rear hanger bay filled with small fighters. These fighters were primarily used as either distraction, to wear down the hostile ships' shields or simply to provide cover for the main vessel itself, but they were small and easily destroyable and wouldn't stand a chance against the Carthage. The Qualons knew this, so they decided to spare the fighters for another day.

The Carthage began its evasive manoeuvres and waited for the Qualon vessel to fire first in order to make sure they didn't start the conflict officially, of which the alien vessel took several seconds to do so that, upon hitting the Carthage, reduced its shield by 19%. A minor hull breach or crack of any kind was expected on the Federation vessel, but the weapon didn't even bleed through the shields at all.

"Captain, this type of Qualon vessel is fairly new in this time period, and it is equipped with a modulating antiproton beam array which can be adjusted on the fly to reduce energy shields or inflict better hull damage; depending on the situation. Judging by the reduction in shields and the lack of hull damage, I'd say the Qualons have opted to get our shields down first," Grachob informed the Captain.

"Target that weapon and fire," the Captain ordered.

The Carthage's attempt to breach the Qualons' shields were more effective than they realised, making the crew of the Carthage realise they were facing an enemy with inferior technology. It didn't take before the Qualons attempted communications again.

"Sir; the Qualon vessel is hailing us," reported Operations officer Lt. Loza.

"Stand down, Tactical; on screen," but before the viewscreen became filled with the golden face of the Qualon Captain, Grachob had an objection to make.

"Captain, these Qualons attempted to have our ship captured and our people experimented on! We shouldn't listen to them!" the Chobe loudly voiced.

"And we don't, we'll never get back to the future. Besides, the Carthage outmatches them. I know you and the Qualons have history, a very long history, but if you raise an objection like that again based on a clouded judgement, I'm putting you on report. Understood?" the Captain firmly settled on. He knew instantaneously why Grachob would raise an objection like this, and he warned him not to do it again; both as an order and as sound advice.

"...yes... sir..." Grachob reluctantly agreed, still furious that they had spared the Qualon vessel at all.

"Now as I was saying; on screen."

The Qualon Captain's ridged golden face fill the viewscreen once again. "It appears we underestimated you. We apologise for any inconsideration we caused you, perhaps we can discuss your circumstances on your ship? I'm sure that would be beneficial to you," the Qualon suggested.

"Why would we agree to that? You attempted to take over my ship and initiated hostile action."

"Because we know how to send you home."

With that last statement, the Captain knew he didn't have a choice. The Qualon had backed him into a diplomatic corner, something even an Ambassador would find difficulty in navigating out of. As a result, he was forced to agree to let the Qualon Captain, with two of his subordinates, on board.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Stardate - N/A**_

_**Year - 2206**_

_**Outskirts of Qualon Space**_

* * *

_**U.S.S. Carthage - Transporter Room  
**_

In Transporter Room 2, Captain Ooiue, Commander T'Pon and Lt. Cmdr Thompson all stood ready to greet their new 'guests', with two Security Personnel standing inside the room next to the door ready to escort them. The Captain felt it important the Qualons not have any contact with Grachob or Tribalt, given relations of the time period. However, he suspected it would be inevitable before the two parties ran into each other.

"Energize," Ooiue ordered.

Materialising on the Transporter Pad stood three, male, 7 ft. Golden figures dressed in slightly worn brown uniforms, each figure with two large pistols hanging on the side of their legs. The transporters' weapons deactivation system had done its work, making the pistols useless, but given the overall build of each Qualon, on a one-on-one fight, nobody in the room would stand a chance, not even T'Pon, whose Vulcan strength was three times that of a human. Each of the officers could now see why the Chobe were so evenly matched with them.

"Welcome to the U.S.S. Carthage, gentleman. As you know, I'm Captain Ooiue, commander of this vessel," the Captain started, "This is my First Officer, Commander T'Pon, and my Chief Science Officer, Lt. Cmdr Jessica Thompson," he introduced.

"I am Captain Keltros, these are my subordinates; Jurqay and Namdor," the Qualon introduced in return as he stepped off the transporter padd with his subordinates flanking behind him, "I believe we should get down to business immediately."

"Very well, we shall escort you to our conference room just off our bridge."

* * *

_**U.S.S. Carthage - Bridge**_

The group didn't take long to reach the turbolift before reaching the bridge, in that time the Captain had attempted to start a casual conversation with the Qualons, but to no avail. They weren't here to talk about anything else other than their present circumstances. When the group got to the bridge, however, is when the situation got intense. As the Qualons looked around, at everybody looking at them and all of the technology present on the ship as if they were analysing it in their minds, they stumbled upon the Tactical station occupied by Grachob.

"Why is there a Chobe on your ship?!" Keltros demanded, ready to fight the Chobe one-on-one. He and his subordinates took the same stance, ready for anything that may come. In response, their Security escorts pulled out their phasers, ready for anything they may try.

Grachob took a similar stance, albeit not as intense, as he knew his position and his orders from the Captain.

"Captain, Grachob is a member of my crew, as is my Helmsman, Tribalt," he pointed out in the direction of the Lt.

The reaction the Qualons gave Tribalt was nothing short of astonished. Despite everything they had seen of the Chobe, they'd never encountered a hybrid Chobe before. This was a unique experience for the golden aliens. They initially believed it would be a simple negotiation with these strangers, who stumbled through the anomaly, but with the presence of two Chobe, one of them being no less than a hybrid, complicated matters severely.

"Why are they members of your crew?! Are you conspiring with our enemy?! Is this a plot to gain information from us?! Only those Chobe could take us on, we could take you all out!" Keltros exclaimed, clearly livid from the unexpected presence of his enemy.

"Captain, I have the entire bridge covered from every layer and each one of my crew members here can stun you before you even get the opportunity to make a move on either of my officers. Now, I suggest you head to the conference room, and then we can discuss this in private. Would that be acceptable? Or would you like me to hold you in my brig where you won't be a threat to us?" Captain Ooiue stood, firmly on his position and stance.

Surprisingly, the Qualons backed down, "Very well," Keltros retreated, "But I want your crewmembers in that discussion, I want to know where they came from!" he countered, an offer which the Captain agreed to and nodded the two officers to join them.

* * *

_**U.S.S. Carthage - Conference Room  
**_

In the conference room, the Qualons took the end of the table nearest the door to the bridge, with Keltros in the middle and the remaining two flanking him on both side of the table, also sitting down with the two Security personnel that had escorted the Qualons from the transporter room stood behind them near the door. Captain Ooiue took his usual seat nearest the window, with T'Pon on the left, Jessica on the right and the two Chobe officers flanking him from behind.

The Qualons' expressions were intense and still clearly furious from their unexpected encounter on the bridge, and all three of them stared at the two Chobe and the Captain.

"Now, I will start off by saying that the anomaly we came through was an anomaly in time, so these two officers you see behind me; have no concern of your war in your time period," Ooiue started.

"So, you're from the future?" Keltros asked in a tone that seemed to indicate disappointment, probably at the fact that his enemy existed at one point in the future in some kind of shape or form.

"Yes, but our Temporal Prime Directive prevents any further information than that from being revealed to you, as our directive states we cannot interfere in other species' conflict; whether they are planetary or cosmic."

The expressions on the Qualons seemed to calm down, but they still held that element of disappointment.

"Very well then; forgive me. Our people have been at war for many millennia, so it is difficult for us to sit in the same room as a Chobe without addressing them. We will attempt to restrain ourselves, if your officers do the same," Keltros offered, clearly wanting to get on with business.

"I have already ordered them to restrain themselves, so any action they take goes directly against my prerogative. In any case, we should discuss our current situation," Ooiue agreed, also indicating his desire to move along with their present circumstances.

"Then proceed."

"Very well; in our time, we encountered the Temporal Anomaly which emitted a gravitational field that disrupted our Warp field. Before we could act to close the anomaly, we ended up here and thus encountered you. My question is, were you here by coincidence? Or were you responsible for the anomaly?" Ooiue almost accused.

"It was us, yes," still wary of the Chobe to what he was about to reveal in front of them, "We have a project going on right now that requires us to test the usability of various form of particles that can form a wormhole."

"A wormhole? Why do you need a wormhole?"

"That is none of your concern, Captain," Keltros irritated out.

"In that case, what particles did you use? Because there are few particles that would open a Temporal Anomaly on such a scale," Ooiue curiously inquired, already having an idea what type of particles they were using.

"We call them Particle 367, but I do not know what name you may have for it, if you've discovered it at all," he subtly inquired to the Chobe, wanting to know if they had discovered what they had.

As soon as the particle was mentioned, both Grachob and Tribalt flinched.

"We know," Tribalt began, "They were using Tachyon Particles."

"Tachyon's?! You were using Tachyon's to open a wormhole?" an astonished Ooiue exclaimed.

"No wonder a Temporal Anomaly was formed," Jessica back-played off Ooiue, "in concentrations around a gravitationally heavy area, such an anomaly we encountered could theoretically be formed and produce a temporal displacement element of the magnitude we encountered," she finished.

"So you are responsible for pulling us through, albeit accidently."

"I assure you, our plans were to achieve nothing of the sort that occurred. My Science Officer suggested the idea using that particle, because she said it was one of the only particles unused and untested to open a successful wormhole. I can guarantee you that she will be punished for such incompetence," Keltros explained.

"Our only concern is getting back to our time. Is there a chance you could recreate the same set of circumstances to allow us to reopen the anomaly? We need to get back to our time," T'Pon finally spoke up.

"Perhaps, but what would we gain from it?" the Qualon greedily replied.

Such a response drew annoyed 'I-knew-you-were-going-to-say-that' looks on both Grachob and Tribalt, completely unsurprised by the Qualon's greed. The response had caught the Captain off guard too, and his whole body sighed at what kind of 'conditions' the Qualon would present.

After a few short moments of silence, Ooiue returned a response, "What do you want?"

"As I stated in our initial communication, I would like your technology. However, I would also like a sample of DNA from every different species on board. Only then would we reopen the anomaly," Keltros laid down the conditions.

"Why do you need DNA?" Jessica inquired.

"Again; none of your concern. These are our conditions, will you take them, or not?"

"You didn't answer the question; why do you need DNA? If you're taking DNA from this crew, we have every right to know where it is going and for what purpose, especially if it violates the Prime Directive" Ooiue repeated the question. He was growing suspicious of their interest in acquiring new technology and DNA, making the Qualon believe that the acquisition had something to do with the war against the Chobe; which is why he and Jessica had asked in the first place.

"We need DNA for experiments we are conducting into biology of different species. We have no intention of using the DNA to further our war effort against the Chobe," Keltros answered.

Grachob and Tribalt drew reactions to that last comment, with Grachob flat out not believing the Qualon and Tribalt, having a more open mind, thought he was partially telling the through to a certain extent, but believed he was conveniently overlooking facts.

"If that's the case, you will have no problem in allowing us to choose one species from this crew to further your experiments, correct? As Starfleet Officers, we are Scientists, I especially because I went through the ranks in the Science department like Lt. Cmdr Thompson here. Am I right?" Ooiue determined, also convinced he was holding something back.

"Three, not one less."

"Two, final offer."

The Qualon pondered for a moment. It was unclear what was going through his mind, but Ooiue thought it might be a simple consideration of attempting to gain what he can, even if it's very little to what he had both intended and wanted.

"Agreed," the Qualon Captain finally settled on.

"Very well," as the whole table stood up in response to a finished negotiation, "Your Security Escorts will take you to your Quarters on board. We will inform you when we have the samples," Ooiue finished off.

"Thank you, Captain," Keltros politely replied, before giving a look to Grachob and a somewhat curious look at Tribalt before heading out.

* * *

After the Qualons and their escorts left the room, it freed up a certain tension in the air, allowing everyone, except the two Chobe, to breathe in a sigh of relief.

"Well, that was tough," Jessica thought out loud.

"I believed the Qualons were somewhat cooperative, until they wanted our technology and DNA," T'Pon added.

"Agreed, it went fairly well until that point, but then it just got a little awkward and slightly tenser," Ooiue continued.

"There's no doubt he was holding something back there, sir," Tribalt pointed out.

"Agreed, he's obviously not telling us something."

"Even if he was telling the truth-," Jessica attempted to begin, only to be interrupted.

"He's not," Grachob flatly put.

Everyone in the room glanced at him before turning back to either the table or Jessica, who attempted to finish her sentence, "As I was saying," she stated, somewhat irritated before turning back to Captain Ooiue, "Even if he was telling us the truth, why would he be sent on a Science experiment in attempting to open up wormholes to then suddenly request technology and, more importantly, DNA samples from every different species on board the ship? It doesn't add up which way you look at it," she finally finished.

"Grachob, anything you know about this time period with the Qualons that they may have used the DNA samples for in the war against your species?" the Captain asked.

Grachob shook his head, "Not that I can recall, sir; I was a lowly ranked Military Officer then. In a couple of year's time, I'll be sent to destroy a Qualon research laboratory, but I won't know what's on it or what the Qualons were doing there. All the research they had gathered has either erased or extracted by another team – it's a mission I never considered looking into once I became Military Commander in 2270. I do know that Qualons didn't do genetic experimentation on themselves like we did, so I know for a fact Chobe DNA is useless to them," he explained.

"Wait, genetically engineered? Chobe are genetically engineered?" Jessica questioned.

"It was part of the information we provided to Starfleet when we joined," Tribalt reminded her.

"Tribalt? Anything else you know about this period we should know?" the Captain turned to the hybrid for answers on his original point.

"Unknown, I was in my early years then, I hardly remember anything from that period at all," he claimed.

"Hmm, then what do they need the DNA for?" Ooiue continued to speculate.

"More importantly, whose DNA are we going to give them? We agreed two samples from two species of our choosing, so we should work on getting them the samples quickly so we don't waste time not heading back," Jessica countered.

"I agree, sir; we should choose two species," T'Pon concurred.

"I volunteer, sir; since I know Chobe DNA won't be of use to them at all," Grachob offered.

"Won't that risk the Qualons using that information against your race?" Ooiue asked in concern.

"Not only did an event like that not happen at all, but I know this because Qualon genetic research is so far behind ours, our present DNA will be of no use to them. Our genetic structure is completely alien to them and they can't integrate our DNA into there's because of it, thus my DNA would be suitable for giving them a null advantage," the Chobe explained.

"Very well, then I will be the second. Chances are, Human DNA won't be of much use to them either," Ooiue concurred.

"So basically, sir, we're giving them two samples of species we almost certainly know won't help them. Won't that risk alienating them and preventing us from returning to our time period?" Jessica pointed out.

"Small chance; since he already claimed he needed it for simple xeno-biological research, Chobe and Human DNA could easily further that. Since we probably know better, I won't give the Qualons the upper hand in a war that we shouldn't get ourselves involved nor risk altering the timeline to the point our Chobe officers no long exist. It's a risk I'm simply not prepared to take."

"Yes, sir, I agree with you there fully."

"Then its settled; Grachob, meet me in Sickbay in 10 minutes. Jessica, inform the Qualons we'll be providing the samples within the hour. No more questions?" the Captain inquired, only for nobody to speak up, "Dismissed," an order which was followed by the room being emptied completely, including the Captain, who headed for Sickbay with Grachob.

* * *

_**U.S.S. Carthage - Transporter Room**_

An hour later, in the Transporter Room, with the same personal as when the Qualons beamed aboard occupying it now in the room once again, the Qualons prepared to leave. Grachob and Tribalt had remained on the bridge, not wanting to interfere with the exit of their former enemy.

Captain Ooiue gave out two vials of the DNA he and Grachob had 'generously' donated to the Qualons for their 'experiments' to Keltros, the Qualon Captain.

"Here are the samples you requested, Captain. I hope you 'experiments', fruit sufficient results," Ooiue pleasantly wished the Qualons good luck.

"Thank you, Captain. As soon as we are aboard and that we confirm our samples are ready for testing, we will reopen the anomaly. My Science Officer assures me that the same calculations have gone into this anomaly as before. You should be able to return to your time once it has been reopened," the Qualon assured him.

"Thank you for your help, Captain."

With that, the Qualons dematerialised from the Transporter Pad and returned to their ship.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Stardate - N/A**_

_**Year - 2206**_

_**Outskirts of Qualon Space**_

* * *

_**U.S.S. Carthage - Bridge  
**_

It had been several hours since the Qualons had left for their ship, and no message was sent. The Captain had been expecting a swift response, or at least some kind of message, but there was nothing.

After nearly four hours of waiting, the Qualon vessel hailed the Carthage.

"On screen," Ooiue ordered.

"Captain, you and those officers of yours, including the Chobe, had better come aboard. There has been a... complication... with the samples you provided us," the Captain almost solemnly stated before deactivating the comm. channel.

Puzzled by what may have occurred, Ooiue assembled the team from the conference in the transporter room (Captain Ooiue, Cmdr T'Pon, Lt. Cmdr Thompson, Lt. Cmdr Grachob and Lt. Tribalt) and beamed over to the Qualon vessel.

* * *

_**Qualon Vessel - Transporter Room  
**_

The away team materialised inside the Qualon dark transporter room, forcing the team, with the exception of Grachob and Tribalt, to have to concentrate to begin seeing things easily. The room was sufficient enough to see, but it took a few minutes before the team adjusted enough to be able to see without a problem. The Chobe were evidently used to this kind of lighting, implying their vessels were of similar lighting.

The Qualon guards in the transporter room were initially hesitant by the presence of the two Chobe, instinctively raising their weapons at them. This resulted in the away team raising their weapons in response.

"Stand down! The Captain says no action is to be taken against them! Or do you want to be responsible for the complete failure of our mission?!" the Qualon transporter operator stated, stepping away from the panel as if he had other duties to attend too.

The two Qualon guards simply nodded at each other and lowered their weapons, an action mirrored by the Starfleet team as well.

"We will escort you to the ordered location, if you will follow me," stated one of the Qualon guards, leading the way out of the room. The away team followed him, allowing the second Qualon to guard the rear.

* * *

_**Qualon Vessel - Central Science Operations Room  
**_

The Qualon vessel inside was darkly lit by brown-filtered lights which revealed grated floors and walls with small two cylindrical pylons flanking every door which appeared bulky and blast resistant. The transporter room and the corridor consisted of this design as well, with several unevenly numbered external consoles leaning against each wall.

By the time the away team reach their destination, a room designated 'Central Science Operations', Captain Keltros was standing outside the room with two more guard either side of the door. His initial stance before seeing the team was looking at the door intently, staring at it, with his arms folded, as if there was a significant weight on his mind. When he noticed Captain Ooiue, his expression barely changed.

At this point, for some unknown reason, Tribalt started feeling like something was about to be revealed that would change everything. He had no thoughts as to why because all he knew was Chobe and Human DNA were donated to the Qualons, a race that barely had any experience with genetic engineering, and that there would be no cause for concern. So why was he suddenly feeling as if the answer was right in front of him?

"Captain, I appreciate your swift response," Keltros acknowledged.

"What seems to be the problem, Captain? Why ask for our presence directly?" asked an inquisitive Alex Ooiue.

The Qualon Captain paused for a moment before answering. Then he looked at Tribalt for several seconds before turning back to the human Captain, "I think this is something you had better see for yourself," he said in a very solemn tone. This was a tone that implied this reveal would change everything, a feeling that Tribalt picked up on immediately. He was now growing incredibly anxious, a feeling he hadn't experience in years.

When they entered the darkly lit room, right there, in the centre of the operations room, surrounded by at least half a dozen Qualons all actively working on their consoles and moving about swiftly, was a clear glass-like material that housed an infant.

A half-Human, half-Chobe infant; like Tribalt.

Tribalt's stomach instantaneously flipped over on itself a thousand times over. His adrenaline began throwing itself around its body at what felt like warp speed and his two hearts began beating faster than he'd ever experienced. This was no ordinary lifeform, it was a hybrid like him.

Everyone intently stared at the infant as they carefully approached the chamber. Then they looked up at a transfixed Tribalt, who seemed to be unaware of anything else around him. The adult hybrid touched the clear chamber carefully, still having his mouth open slightly and his entire body posture somehow containing the utter shock he was still experiencing.

"How... how did this happen?" a shocked Ooiue asked, desperate to know what happened.

"Somehow, our Science Officer combined the DNA of the two samples you provided with a third sample we had been experimenting with," Captain Keltros explained.

That last points' detail was completely ignored by the entire team due to the sheer shock they were all in, especially Tribalt.

"Then... how did it create," Jessica gestured towards the chamber with the infant in it, who was still sleeping, "This?!" she barely managed to make out.

"Our original idea was to improve the sample we already had with the samples of DNA you provided; that was why we needed your crews DNA. Unfortunately, the Science officer 'accidently' used both vials in its entirety, when only a small portion was needed, and that resulted in an unusual embryonic formation, which became... this. It grew remarkably quickly, reaching this stage in development in less than two hours, which is when we contacted you. We would have brought you over before then, but we had no idea what was happening until it was too late," Keltros continued to explain, expanding his original point.

"Do you have another sample on board that you can test with?" Ooiue offered, not wanting to make the same mistake twice but also feeling somewhat responsible for the present circumstance, as it was his DNA that took part in it.

"Unfortunately, that was our only sample. We have others, but that sample was the only one provided to us because of 'priorities' by my superiors. If they learned this happened due to one of my officers' incompetence, the whole operation will be called into question."

Grachob felt no sympathy for the Qualon, as he rarely did for anything at all, due to the fact that it would set back their operations. His background in the very conflict the Qualon was talking about had made him unsympathetic, something the Chobe military drilled into every Chobe - a military that his hybrid brother, Tribalt, never fell into. He knew the Qualons were going to be defeated in over 60 year's time from their present time frame, but he knew he couldn't tell him that because he'll alter history.

"Then what do we do with this?" Jessica inquired.

"Test a DNA sample of him with one of mine, I want to know something," Tribalt then suddenly intervened.

"Very well," Keltros agreed as he signalled one of his medical officers to take a sample of Tribalt's DNA. The Qualons already had the DNA of the infant, so comparing it to Tribalt may fill in a few blanks for them, as they could compare how similar their DNA was thus allowing them some insight into Chobe genetic experimentation.

The sample of the infant appeared on the left of the display panel on the wall, a panel the whole room stared at intently. What came next was a surprise to everyone but Tribalt himself. The sample Tribalt had provided appeared on screen on the right of the panel, and the two samples matched perfectly.

This infant wasn't just another hybrid like Tribalt.

It was Tribalt, as an infant.

It was in this instant that Tribalt's feeling from outside the door faded as quickly as they came. He knew in that instant, his whole history was now complete. He knew now, where he had actually come from. He wasn't a simple experiment found a Qualon vessel that was lost and then found once again, as the Chobe had told him; he was a result of the events he was experiencing now. His whole life suddenly came into perspective, granting him clarity on how to proceed next with his younger-self.

"That's..." began Jessica.

"Tribalt... that's you Tribalt," Ooiue finished, "Did you know this? Did you know this would happen?"

"No, I didn't," the older Tribalt explained, "but now I know what must be done with him."

"What are you talking about?" inquired Keltros, curious as to his next move, suspecting he wouldn't like it.

"You need to take me home, to the Chobe Homeworld; Chobe Prime," Tribalt firmly stated.

The Qualon Captain scoffed at that remark, having no intention of heading into the heart of Chobe space, "And why should I do that?" Keltros ridiculed.

"We can't exactly take him, because I'm already on board," he started a logical train of thought, "You can't take him to your people because it'd cause a paradox, because I influenced your decision making in order to take him there, so if I don't exist, time, essentially, folds back on itself. Finally, you can't do anything, like kill me or change me, because of the same reason. So, that leaves the one option I already know works; take me to Chobe Prime and all of this can be resolved," he flawlessly explained.

Tribalt knew using the element of Temporal Mechanics was a dangerous move, but he knew it was part of the equation and he needed to explain it, no matter what. His timeline needed to be upheld, and, in any other circumstances, he would be in genuine concern for his own safety, but in the clarity of thought he had been granted, he knew the only choice was to take his younger-self back to Chobe Prime. The only thing about this plan was what would come as a result of this 'drop-off'; an event which he knew needed to happen to uphold the entire timeline.

Keltros hated the idea of venturing into Chobe space to drop-off one of his enemies that, evidently, be used against his people at some point in his future. On the other hand, he couldn't find a way out of Tribalt's logic; logic which left him with the only decision left – to take him exactly where he already went before; to the Chobe homeworld of Chobe Prime.

After contemplating the decision for several seconds, he agreed; "Very well. I will take you infant-self to Chobe Prime. If your people consider my actions to be honourable enough to not be fired upon, then maybe I'd be spared. Just remember, I'd destroy this ship before ever handing it over to the Chobe," Keltros warned.

"Why Chobe Prime? Why not one of the outlying colonies?" Jessica inquired into the obvious hole in that idea.

"Because at this point in time, none of the other colonies, which had been invaded and recaptured so many times by this period, were capable of harbouring such an infant like me. I require a unique set of requirements which actually alienated me even further when I was growing up. This little one is in for some tough times," Tribalt responded, wanting to tell his younger-self something inspiring, which he preceded to do, "Listen, I know you'll have no idea where you actually came from and I know you're going to be scared, but don't worry; everything will work out in the end. You were created as a result of a paradox, a paradox which will give you such clarity and leave you with a feeling of completeness once it is over. The years ahead will be tough, and you'll meet very few people who even consider you a friend, but it will all be worth it," he finished, feeling a sense of completeness as he just said.

"Keltros," Grachob started to address, "use this signal to signify your intention as peaceful and honourable to get over the Chobe border. The Chobe Defence Force will let you in and let you leave their space peacefully once you've dropped the infant off," the Chobe offered.

A hesitant Keltros, who only nodded at the gesture, knew he was only doing this so the timeline could be preserved, nothing more. He knew Grachob never had any sympathy for him or his cause; both were mortal enemies. Never even once during this entire encounter had he considered making peace with the Chobe, it wasn't in his blood or DNA at all. He accepted the other species of the Federation vessel, but not the Chobe or even the hybrid.

"I thank you for this, Keltros," Tribalt began, "and I know you don't trust me anymore than Grachob. Just know, it was a pleasure working with a Qualon for a change," he finished, simply nodding, which Keltros returned like he did with Grachob.

"Our guards will escort you back to the transporter room. Once on board, we will open the anomaly and you can go back to your time. Know that the Qualons have a peaceful side, Starfleet, and we would be proud to call you allies in the future," Keltros kindly stated, not even glancing at the Chobe during the statement, "Also, Tribalt, know that we will deliver your younger self to Chobe Prime successfully. If your presence is anything to indicate, it means we have succeeded," the Qualon finished, again not looking at Tribalt.

"Thank you, Captain. We probably won't meet again, but know you have provided a service to us. I realise we got off on the wrong foot, so to speak, but I like to believe everyone can work things out in the end, no matter how badly things may start off," Captain Ooiue returned the kind gestures the Qualon had provided him with.

The team then left the room, with Tribalt having a long look back at his infant-self before joining the rest of the team to head back to the Carthage.

* * *

_**U.S.S. Carthage **_

Once back on board, it didn't take long before the Qualon vessel reopened the anomaly, allowing the Carthage back through to the future.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Stardate - ?.?**_

_**Year - 2408  
**_

_**Bajor Sector, 17 Light Years from Deep Space 9...**_

* * *

_**U.S.S. Carthage  
**_

The Carthage re-emerged back in its original position before the entire encounter began. The anomaly closed abruptly behind them, and the crew, more importantly Tribalt, remained on board.

"So, Tribalt, do you feel history catching up with you?" Ooiue almost jokingly questioned.

"I think that happened back on the Qualon vessel," he answered in a similar tone, "but now I really do feel complete. Well, as complete as a hybrid made out of an accidently combination in what you thought were your mortal enemies' secret laboratory," he jokingly finished.

Laughing slightly, Ooiue addressed his Science officer, "Jessica, can you confirm we're back in our time?"

"Of course, checking scans now," of which she proceeded to do immediately, only for a puzzled expression to capture her face, "Wait... something's not right..."

"Is something wrong, Jess?"

"I don't know. The stars are in their approximate positions, but something is out of place. The nearest star system had a Class L planet that orbited every 10 months... that planet is on the opposite side of the system from when we left. In other words, it has completed half an orbit since we left."

Captain Ooiue didn't want to believe it at first, "Could there be something wrong with the sensors? A side-effect from travelling through the anomaly, perhaps?"

"Negative; the sensors are working at full capacity, and if there's no malfunction..."

It was that instant that their present circumstances dawned on the bridge crew, "Then that means..." Tribalt continued.

"We've lost the last five months..." the Captain finally settled on, a similar expression and stance to the feelings he experienced when he first saw infant Tribalt, was drawn all over him.

* * *

_**Stardate 85723.10**_

_**U.S.S. Carthage - Ready Room**_

Alex and Jessica stood next to each other looking out the window towards the dark expanse of space.

"Five months, gone... just like that," began a solemn Alex.

"We missed our wedding day," Jessica finished.

"This is why I hate Temporal Mechanics, stuff like this screws with your life and your timeline, or, in this case, Tribalt's timeline."

"I know, and I'm too fond of it either. I'm a Scientist, but ever since time travel became a thing, I detracted my support for investigation into Temporal Mechanics."

"I guess we'll have to explain to Starfleet where we've been for the last five months," Alex realised.

"Which means an interesting visit from Temporal Mechanics is in order," Jessica half-joked.

Then, the ready room chime sprung to life.

"Come in," Captain Ooiue stated.

Both Grachob and Tribalt walked in, both with looks on their faces which they believe could have serious repercussions for their career's; expressions not lost on either of the humans already inside.

"Is something wrong?" the Captain inquired, as he sat down on his ready room chair, with Jessica half sitting on the table to his right.

"Sir, we thought you should know something, about what happened to that Qualon ship after we went back to the future," Tribalt clarified.

"Wait, you know what happened to it?" Jessica intervened.

"Indeed, we do. It's something which you should both be aware of that we've known since Tribalt stated that the only choice was to bring the infant back to Chobe Prime," Grachob continued.

"Then, proceed," permitted a curious Captain Ooiue.

"Sir, after we left, I know for a fact the Qualon vessel went to Chobe Prime to drop me off, otherwise I wouldn't be here," Tribalt began, almost nervous about his next statement, "When the ship arrived, it was greeted by the Chobe military, but the Chobe didn't believe them, despite the code Grachob provided. The Chobe Defence Force attacked the vessel, disabling it and killing all Qualons on board, including Captain Keltros. My chamber was damaged as well, but I was able to survive once the Chobe boarded the vessel; since they saw an opportunity to gather new, strategic intelligence on Qualon operations."

Alex and Jessica's looks intensified as the story Tribalt told progressed.

"The Qualons were only able to wipe 90% of the database, including all data about our visit from the future and my DNA. I was taken to Chobe Prime, as expected, but the remaining 10% of information allowed the Chobe military to strike at and destroy Qualon Scientific structures on the outskirts of Qualon space over the next several years," Tribalt continued.

"One of which I was a part of; the operation I mentioned earlier," Grachob added, clarifying his involvement in the situation.

"There was a rumour of a Qualon genetic experiment which had gone rogue, but it was never confirmed. The information gathered from those Science facilities enabled the Chobe military to slowly wear down the Qualon defences over the next 60 years, leading to the eventual invasion and subsequent downfall of Qualos in 2270," Tribalt finished.

The revelation had forced Alex to his legs, and he returned to the window, still processing what he had just learned. Jessica followed him and simply put her hands on his shoulders.

What Tribalt had just stated was completely unbelievable. Not only had the Carthage journeyed into the past unintentionally and unexpectedly, but the crew had, quite literally, caused a predestination paradox. A paradox which had led to the creation of their own crewmember and the downfall of an entire race, a race which was now confirmed as extinct by both of the Starfleet Officers standing in front of them.

"I doubt there's anything we could have done," she attempted to comfort her fiancé before nodding the two Chobe out.

"It still doesn't help knowing that you were directly responsible for the extinction of an entire race. What am I supposed to tell Starfleet? I'll lose my commission and my career," he worryingly stated.

"Not if you tell them that the Qualons acted on their own accord," she attempted to reason.

Alex simply turned around and looked at her, "Falsify reports?" he asked her with a curious and concerned face.

"Actually, it's the truth... technically," she countered.

"Technically?"

"The Qualons made Tribalt, and then they took it to the Chobe homeworld by themselves, after we left. So, by that logic, it's not our fault at all," she attempted to reason, trying to find a way out of the mess her fiancé had ended up in since she knew he'd be the one taking the downfall if Starfleet didn't look on the situation lightly.

"And what do I say to explain how they got their hands on Human and Chobe DNA from our ship? They'll do DNA tests and they'll match Grachob's and mine," only with that statement did it dawn on him, "Wait... that means Tribalt is technically my child..."

"OUR, child," Jessica added.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"I spoke to Grachob before we came in here. He doesn't want any sort of parental status to befall him, since he just doesn't care... apparently. In any case, he said he'd be happy to transfer unofficial parental status to you and me, making Tribalt our kid instead of his. That is, of course, if you'll agree," she clarified.

Alex contemplated for a moment, "That sounds great."

The two of them spoke to Tribalt afterwards and the three of them made themselves an unofficial family.

However, the weight of their recent adventure continued to haunt Alex for the rest of his life, never getting over the fact that he felt responsible for the downfall of an entire race. He wasn't directly responsible, but he was the Captain, and the Captain takes responsibility for the actions of everyone under his command, which includes Tribalt. Thus, in his mind by extension, he was responsible.

Whilst the Qualons did fall in 2270, their mysterious genetic experimentation never confirmed and the events that occurred after their downfall affecting every Chobe that existed in that time period sealed the timeline in a huge temporal loop that spanned over 200 years.

The Temporal Disaster that befell the U.S.S. Carthage and its crew wouldn't be forgotten for all those affected by the event and its subsequent consequences. Never forgotten.

* * *

**End of "A Temporal Disaster".**

**Thanks for reading! :D**

**Please review if you wish, I would appreciate the feedback! :)**

**\- Ooiue**


End file.
